A re-hash of last years Halloween post with lots of new links thrown in and the dead ones taken out. Enjoy. :)
The description of Halloween below was harvested from the always excellent Wikipedia's very own Halloween page.
The History of HalloweenHalloween is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets. It is celebrated in parts of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and with increasing popularity in Australia and New Zealand. Halloween originated among the Celts in Ireland, Britain and France as the Pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain. Irish, Scots, Calan Gaeaf in Welsh and other immigrants brought versions of the traditions to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.
The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows' Day" (also known as "All Saints' Day"). In Ireland, the name was All Hallows' Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, it is still a well-accepted label. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Pope Gregory III moved the old Christian feast of All Saints Day to November 1 to give Halloween a Christian interpretation . Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.Halloween is often associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when the spiritual world can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent (e.g. Catalan mythology about witches, Irish tales of the Sídhe).
Trick or Treat
The main event of modern US-style Halloween is trick-or-treating, in which children dress up in costume disguises and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing each doorbell and yelling "trick or treat!"In Ireland, great bonfires were lit throughout the breadth of the land. Young children in their guises were gladly received by the neighbors with some "fruit, apples and nuts and of course sweets" for the "Halloween Party", whilst older male siblings played innocent pranks on bewildered victims.
In Scotland, children or guisers are more likely to recite "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" instead of "trick or treat!". They visit neighbours in groups and must impress the members of the houses they visit with a song, poem, trick, joke or dance in order to earn their treats. Traditionally, nuts, oranges, apples and dried fruit were offered.
In England, trick or treating does take place much, particularly in working class neighbourhoods. On the whole, however, it is frowned upon as a form of begging and as a negative part of American global culture.
Halloween Snippets
Halloween is also know by other names:All Hallows Eve
Samhain
All Hallowtide
The Feast of the Dead
The Day of the Dead
Halloween in Welsh is 'Nos Calan Gaeaf'.
Halloween is correctly spelt as Hallowe’en.
Black cats were originally believed to protect witches' powers from negative forces.
A pumpkin is really a squash, and comes from the same family as the cucumber.
About 99% of pumpkins sold are used as Jack O' Lanterns at Halloween.
The biggest pumpkin in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,446 pounds. This gigantic gourd was weighed in October 2004 at a pumpkin festival in Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada.
The record for the fastest pumpkin carver in the world is Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio. He carved a pumpkin in just 37 seconds!
The very first jack o' lantern was made out of hollowed out turnips.
Ringing a bell scares evil spirits away.
If you see a spider on this night, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.
To meet a witch, put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night.
Halloween links
10 Stunning Pumpkin Carvings
Creepy Halloween Party Food
Dalek pumpkin
Pumpkin shortage threatens Halloween fun
Halloween in the Time of Cholera
25 clever costume ideas for Halloween
ScaryGuys Halloween How-To For Everyone!
Zombie Pumpkins! - pumpkin carving patterns
130 Halloween Pumpkin Carvings for Your Inspiration
15 Craziest Halloween Costumes
Underwire Taking the Pulse of Pop Culture 6 Frightful Sites for Free Halloween Horror Shows
Creepy Halloween Party Food
Creepy Halloween Party Food
10 Awesome Robot Halloween Pumpkins
Paper halloween toys (via)
Halloween Tripeaks. Solitaire game.
What the crappy treats you give out on Halloween say about you
Halloween pet photos
Britian's most haunted village 'cancels Halloween'
The Magic of Halloween
Hallowe'en Resolutions
Zero Budget Zombie Makeup
A Halloween Display That’s More Than Meets the Eye
Get Your Creep On With These Halloween Links
Halloween fun at David's Farm
Life and death of a pumpkin
Do-It-Yourself Molded Pumpkins
Horror Movie Trivia: The Trifecta
Wired.com Readers' Best Geeky Halloween Costumes
5 Candies You Hated Getting Every Halloween
Halloween Costumes to Inflict Upon the Innocent
The 35 Most Insane Halloween Costumes from Around the World
The 10 Most Bizarre and Terrible Halloween TV Specials
Beautiful Halloween Wallpapers And Halloween DIY-Tutorials (via)
10 Awesome Homemade Halloween Costumes
Halloween Horrors: 5 Spooky TV Shows You Can Watch Online
11 Crazy Pumpking Carvings
34 Geeky Pumpkin Faces
Pumpking carving/design tips (via)
Here is a relatively easy way to to take a photo of yourself, a friend, or a random celebrity and carve them into a jack-o-lantern (via)
20 Costumes That Will Earn You a Halloween Beating
19 Creative Halloween Advertisements
Halloween pic dump
Lego Minifig Halloween Costume
Top 10 Haunting Halloween Cocktails
Halloween Squirrel
The Red Ring of Death Halloween Pumpkin
Download free Halloween midi and wav music files
Balloon Manor - An interactive haunted house, made completely from balloons (via)
Ghosts of Halloween: Extended Arms and Hands
Rotting Pumpkin Time Lapse Video
WFMU's Beware of the Blog: An Aural Halloween Trinity: Scar Stuff, Arch Oboler, Reverend Frost. More free music.
Halloween Recipes
Blogosfear. Turning German bloggers into zombies.
Simple Halloween Origami
Witch Pop-up
YouTube - Halloween cats and dogs
Geeky Jack-o'-Lanterns
20 Ways To Confuse Trick-Or-Treaters
The Kenova Pumpkin House
Halloween Kid
Brewing in a pumpkin
10 Hauntingly Photographical Locations for Halloween
Vintage Halloween Postcards (via)
Witness the Power of this Fully Armed and Operational Pumpkin
AT-AT Costume Halloween 2005 - a photoset on Flickr
Halloween Pumpkin Stencils
Mechanical Bat
Old Time Horror Radio
Pumpkin Carving Gallery
Vintage Halloween icon set
Halloween 99 on Castro Street
The History of Halloween
Bat Pop-up
Fresh New Halloween Cakes (28 Photos)
Halloween Treats Guaranteed to Earn a Trick
What a great homemade witch costume! Um, you were supposed to be a princess? Oh.
The Monsterlist of Halloween Projects is the most complete collection of links to pages with do-it-yourself projects
Old-time Photos of Halloween
The 11 Halloween Treats You Don't Want to Get
Top Mac-o-lanterns from around the Web
10 People Born on Halloween (11, really).
Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktakular
The Boo Tube: Halloween on TV
30+ Halloween Photoshop Brush Sets And Vector Images
How To: Build a 3D Lego Halloween Pumpkin
Halloween Projects
Pet Costumes
Pumpkin Carving and Pumpkin Carving Patterns for Halloween
Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin
Pumpkin Stencils
Jack-O-Lantern and Witch Models
Insanely intricate pumpkin carvings
Top 10 Star Wars Pumpkin Carvings
Halloween Costumes for your I-Pod
Halloween Tattoos
Biblical Proof Indicating That Jesus Was Born On October 31st
How to Crash Satan's Birthday Party and Ruin Halloween
A Successful Halloween Supper Party
Make a Robotic Snap-O-Lantern!
Top Ten Worst Halloween 'Candies'
The Coolest Halloween Pumpkins I've Ever Seen!
34 Geeky Pumpkin Faces
Halloween: Around The World
Halloween History: the Real Origins
Halloween - Old Vintage Antique Postcard Postcards
Ten Epic Halloween Costumes
Haunted Paper Toys
Halloween on a Budget
Halloween beers
Pumpkin Carving and Free Pumpkin Patterns Patterns
ExtremePumpkins.com - Extreme Pumpkin Carving
Halloween Recipes
Devil's tramping ground. Great interactive Flash game.
Pumpkin Face Origami
DIY Halloween Decorations
Spooky Music for Halloween
Halloween Cocktail Fun
World Class Giant Pumpkins
Halloween Photography Tips
Phyllis Galembo: 100 years of Halloween costumes and masquerade
Creative Halloween Suits
Pumpkin Clipart
U. S. Census facts about Halloween in the United States
Halloween Box
Jack O' Lantern Tips
The Most Horrendous Halloween Decorations
Halloween candy horror stories
Drunk Pumpkin Party
Online Pumpkin Carving
Worst Halloween Costumes of All Time
13 REAL Haunted Places That Will Make You Cry for Mommy
Halloween's Occult Connection An extensive study of the roots of Halloween
The Ultimate Halloween Horror Cakes
The 30 Most Unsettling German Halloween Costumes
MAKE: Blog: Pumpkin computers!
Make Your Own Halloween Costume - Free Creative Halloween Costume Ideas
Pumpkin Computer: Just Like Mom Used to Make
Halloween origins and customs
Get Ready for Scares with the DIY Halloween Roundup
Halloween Avatars
Painted Pumpkins
Flickr - Halloween in the Time of Cholera
Awesome Zelda Pumpkin
Revenge of the Halloween Masks
Halloween Hangman
Pumpkin Stencils
Pumpkin Carving With Klingons. And a cat
1970's Halloween Makeup Kits
Scary Stories
Halloween - Theopedia. Various Christian views of the holiday.
Turing pumpkin
Top Ten Worst Halloween 'Candies'
Make your own Halloween mask
Pumpkin Carving Patterns
LiveScience.com - What Halloween is Really About
Halloween guinea pig.
Pumpkins on Flickr part of the Pumpkins pool
Halloween Puzzles and Worksheets for Teachers
How Do You Keep a Jack O' Lantern From Rotting?
Free Halloween Wallpapers
75 best movie related pumpkin carving photos
Metafilter - Scary Stuff
Pumpkin Recipe Favorites
Halloween Masks. Why dress as a ghost or a vampire this Halloween when you can disguise yourself as someone genuinely scary--like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or bald-headed problem parent Britney Spears.
If you wish to contribute any Halloween links for this post mail them to me or leave details in the comments.
Late extras:
Top 9 Giant Movie Monsters
The Best Halloween Ads
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